Bed clothing



June 23, 1964 P. A. FLORIO 3,137,371

BED CLOTHING Filed Sept. 15. 1961 BY K ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,137,871 BED CLOTHING Patrick A. Flor-i0, Short Hills, N.J., assignor, by mesne assignments, to Johnson & Johnson, New Brunswick, NJL, a corporation of New Jersey Fiied Sept. 15, 1961, Ser. No. 138,419 3 Claims. (Cl. 5-334) This invention relates to bed coverings and more particularly to blankets which include a removable disposable insulating core.

Conventional blankets, such as those made from cotton and wool, are usually cleaned by washing or dry cleaning. Blankets which are used in the home are cleaned perhaps three to four times a year since the conditions of use do not ordinarily require more frequent cleaning However, in hospitals, nursing homes and in similar institutions, good sanitary practices require more frequent cleanings, especially to prevent infection and reinfection. It is not only imperative to clean and make sanitary blankets formerly used by others for new patients, but also to do so frequently for patients previously admitted.

In recent times, the large influx of patients into hospitals has caused a correspondingly large increase in the costs of conducting hospital operations. Such costs include personnel costs and material and equipment costs. The personnel costs may be reduced by utilizing their time more efiiciently by minimizing or eliminating the performance of duties which are not directly connected with medical treatment, but which instead involve basically mechanical functions, such as changing, collecting, cleansing and storing bed linen. The expenses involved in storing, replacing and cleaning materials, such as bed linen and blankets has led to the more frequent use of items of a disposable nature. The blanket of this invention is directed towards such objects.

In accordance with this invention, there is provided a blanket which has substantially the characteristics of conventional blankets with regard to weight, thickness, and insulation properties. In contrast to conventional blankets, however, the blanket of this invention contains a disposable insulating core, preferably enclosed within a non-disposable casing or envelope which may be recleaned and reused. When it becomes necessary to change or replace the blanket, the insulating core may be readily and easily removed from within the casing and disposed of by usual hospital techniques, and a new core, presterilized, if desired, inserted into the casing after it has been laundered and made sanitary. In view of the disposable nature or" the core, the costs of replacement thereof, coupled with the costs of cleaning the casing, are less than the costs incurred in cleaning conventional blankets.

A blanket incorporating the invention provides other desirable features. For example, a core of non-sensitizing material may be used, whereas blankets of wool, the type commonly used, are sometimes objectionable to certain patients for allergenic reasons, The space required for storing blankets is reduced since the disposable cores can be obtained as required. In addition, by adjusting the amount of material used to form the core, a thicker or thinner blanket may be obtained, depending upon the seasonal requirements, such as winter or summer. The core can be made of absorbent paper or repellent paper, depending upon the requirements of the patient, without 'ice adversely affecting its air permeability or thermal conductivity. Further, one form of a blanket prepared in accordance with the present invention may eliminate the need for a top bed sheet, thereby further reducing hospital costs.

In its broader aspects, the invention includes a casing, preferably reusable, such as a casing of textile sheeting, and a removable, disposable insulating core formed of a plurality of plies of paper tissue or wadding having insulating characteristics and a thickness and weight substantially equivalent to that of conventional blankets. A particularly important feature of the invention is the manner in which the plurality of plies of paper or wadding which form the disposable insulating core are associated With each other to eliminate shifting or moving of the individual plies with respect to each other. The blanket has drape characteristics and a hand similar to conventional wool blankets and is thus comfortable in use.

Referring to the drawings wherein there is illustrated by way of example a blanket incorporating the preferred form of the invention:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a blanket incorporating the invention, illustrating the disposable absorbent core partially inserted into the casing;

FIG. 2 is a broken sectional View, on an enlarged scale, of FIG. 1, taken along lines 2--2;

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view on an enlarged scale, of FIG. 1, taken along lines 3-3, illustrating the manner in which the plies of paper or wadding forming the disposable insulating core are associated with each other to prevent their shifting;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view on an enlarged scale of the absorbent core, illustrating a further modification of the manner in which the plies forming the absorbent core may be associated;

FIG. 5 is a broken vertical sectional view of the blanket, illustrating a closure for the casing; and

FIG. 6 is a broken vertical sectional view of a modified form of the invention.

Referring to the drawings, the blanket includes a rectangular casing 10 having the dimensions of a regular blanket and containing a removable disposable insulating core 12 whose dimensions are slightly smaller than the dimensions of the casing so that the core may be readily inserted into and removed from the casing. The casing may be made from textile fabric of the type customarily used for bed sheeting, such as cotton, muslin or percale, having a thread count of from about by 60 to by 80. The use of cotton sheeting of the aforementioned type eliminates the need for a top bed sheet which is generally made of the same material. However, if a completely disposable blanket is required, the casing may also be made from disposable paper or a non-Woven fabric.

The casing may be formed from a sheet which is twice the desired size of the finished blanket folded in half and secured together on two sides and left open on the side opposite the folded side. Alternatively, the casing may be made from two superposed sheets having the dimensions of the finished blanket and stitched or bonded together as at 14- on three of the four sides and open on the remaining side 16 through which opening the core may be removed and another substituted. The open side of the casing may be provided with a closure device, such as a zipper 18, as illustrated in FIG. 5, or other suitable closure devices, or it may be left open, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

The removable disposable core may be formed from a number of plies 2d of creped paper tissue or wadding. A suitable paper, which may be made from a mixture of bleached kraft and bleached sulfite fibers prepared in accordance with conventional papermaking techniques, has a basis weight of from about 13 to about 14 pounds, a tensile strength of 80 grams (machine direction) and a stretch from about 110% to about 130%. In order to obtain insulation values substantially equivalent to those of conventional blankets (e.g., K from about 0.24 to about 0.3) the density of the core should be from about 1.9 to about 2.9 pounds per cubic foot, preferably about 2.4 pounds per cubic foot (as measured in accordance with Federal Specification No. PPPC 843, Cushioning MaterialCellulosic, June 19, 1950, revised December 1, 1960).

The number of plies of the paper used to form the insulating core may be suitably varied to provide thinner or thicker blankets, and, accordingly, blankets having greater or lesser insulation properties. By way of example, a blanket incorporating the present invention and having about the thickness and insulation properties of a conventional wool blanket may be obtained by using from about 8 to about plies of the above-described paper to form the insulating core. Thinner blankets may be obtained by using a lesser number of plies, such as from 3 to 6, to provide a blanket suitable for use in the summer, or under warmer conditions.

If the plies of paper or wadding used to form the insulating core were simply positioned in superposed relationship to provide a core of the desired thickness, the individual plies would tend to shift or slide with respect to each other, and also with respect to the outer casing. Such shifting and sliding of the individual plies may be eliminated by bonding the plies to each other to form an integral insulating core. The plies are bonded to each other along lines spaced about four inches apart, or, as illustrated, in spaced areas 22 wherein the bonds appear as buttons spaced four inches apart from each other, rather than continuously throughout their interfaces, in order to retain their flexibility and conformability, and to avoid the formation of a relatively stiff, non-conforming core. The individual plies are not bonded to each other along lines or areas extending through all of the plies forming the core. Instead, individual plies or groups of plies are bonded to each other, with other plies or groups of plies being bonded to each other along lines or areas which are offset or staggered from the lines or areas of bonding of adjacent plies or groups of plies. Adjacent groups of plies are also bonded to each other to thereby bond, in effect, all the plies in the core together.

Various patterns of bonding the plies and groups of plies together may be utilized, as may be the distances between the lines or areas of bonding. For example, and as illustrated in FIG. 3, two plies which form one group 24 of plies may be bonded together in thin, spaced vertically extending lines or areas. A second group 26 of two plies may be similarly bonded together, the lines or areas of bonding being, however, offset or staggered with respect to the lines or areas of bonding in the first group of plies. Other groups of plies, 28 and 30 may be similarly bonded in a similar offset, staggered relationship with respect to an adjacent group of plies. Desirably, a single group should not be formed from more than six plies. The respective groups of plies are bonded to each other by bonding an adjacent ply of one group to an adjacent ply of an adjacent group.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, adjacent groups of plies may be bonded together by using sufficient adhesive in the vertically extending lines or areas to just contact the top surace of an adjacent ply of an adjacent group of plies. Alternatively, and as illustrated in FIG. 4, suflicient adhesive may be used in the bonding of the plies in each group together so that some of the adhesive penetrates through the adjacent ply of an adjacent group of plies.

In effect, this makes adjacent plies of adjacent groups of plies common to each of the adjacent groups of plies.

By so associating bonded groups of plies to adjacent bonded groups of plies, with the lines of areas of bonding of adjacent groups of plies being offset or staggered with respect to each other, there is eliminated a continuous line of bonding throughout all of the plies forming the core. As a result, the core has greater flexibility than does a core having its plies bonded together in lines or areas which extend vertically through all plies. In addition, by so associating the respective groups of plies to form the core, the formation of hard and rigid areas or lines of bonding material through the entire core, which may prove uncomfortable, is eliminated.

The respective plies forming the core may be bonded together by a variety of materials, including liquid adhesives, such as a water solution of a borated starch, plasticized polyvinyl acetate, and the like applied to the plies in the form of spaced spots or lines. The adhesive may be applied to one group of plies forming the core, e.g., two superposed plies, by applying the liquid adhesive to the top surface of the top ply, and permitting it to penetrate downwardly through to the bottom ply. Another group of plies may have the adhesive applied to it in a similar manner and the two groups of plies superposed with respect to each other with the sites of application of adhesive to one group of plies being offset or staggered with respect to the adjacent group of plies. By a use of liquid adhesive of suitable viscosity, and by superposing the respective group of plies while the adhesive is still wet, sulficient adhesive will penetrate through the bottom ply of the top group of plies to the top ply of the bottom group of plies to thereby bond the groups of plies to each other. The process may be repeated as many times as desired with additional groups of plies to provide a core of the required thickness.

In view of the great stress laid upon the non-inflammability of products, particularly disposable products, which are used in hospitals and the like, the paper plies forming the insulating core of the invention may be treated with suitable flame retarding agents. By way of example, the plies may be made flame retardant by spraying them with a solution of monoand di-ammonium phosphate during the paper making operation. The product of the present invention is thus seen to lend itself readily to flame retardant treatment, in contrast to conventional blankets of cotton or wool which require more expensive treatment. In addition, since conventional blankets are cleaned frequently, more frequent treatment to renew their flame retardant characteristics is required. In addition to the comparative costs involved in imparting flame retardance, there is also involved the costs of handling, transporting, and maintaining a reserve supply.

The insulating core formed of the paper plies may also be readily sterilized in accordance with well-known sterilization techniques, such as steam sterilization and ethylene oxide sterilization. The plies may also be given wet strength by applying, as by spraying, a wet strength agent, such as urea formaldehyde, to the paper during the papermaking process.

It is apparent that numerous modifications, variations and changes may be made in the foregoing illustrative embodiments of the invention while still remaining within its spirit.

What is claimed is:

1. A blanket comprising a casing and a removable and disposable insulating core substantially coextensive with said casing, said core including a plurality of superposed plies of creped paper having a basis weight of from about 13 to about 14 pounds, said core having a density of from about 1.9 to about 2.9 pounds per cubic foot, said plies being arranged to form a number of superposed series of plies each containing a plurality of plies, the plies in each of said series being bonded together in spaced areas extending in aligned relation through said series, the

5 spaced areas of bonding in adjacent series being out of alignment, adjacent series being bonded together.

2. A blanket having a disposable insulating core which comprises a plurality of superposed plies of creped paper having a basis weight of from about 13 to about 14 pounds, said core havinga density of from about 1.9 to about 2.9 pounds per cubic foot, said plies being arranged to form a number of superposed series of plies each containing a plurality of plies, the plies in each of said series being bonded together in spaced areas extending in aligned relation through said series, the spaced References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,625,695 Nicholson Ian. 20, 1953 10 2,834,033 OBn'en May 13, 1958 2,960,702 Linke et a1. Nov. 22, 1960 

1. A BLANKET COMPRISING A CASING AND A REMOVABLE AND DISPOSABLE INSULATING CORE SUBSTANTIALLY COEXTENSIVE WITH SAID CASING, SAID CORE INCLUDING A PLURALITY OF SUPERPOSED PILES OF CREPED PAPER HAVING A BASIS WEIGHT OF FROM ABOUT 13 TO ABOUT 14 POUNDS, SAID CORE HAVING A DENSITY OF FROM ABOUT 1.9 TO ABOUT 2.9 POUNDS PER CUBIC FOOT, SAID PLIES BEING ARRANGED TO FORM A NUMBER OF SUPERPOSED SERIES OF PLIES EACH CONTAINING A PLURALITY OF PLIES, THE PLIES IN EACH OF SAID SERIES BEING BONDED TOGETHER IN SPACED AREAS EXTENDING IN ALIGNED RELATION THROUGH SAID SERIES, THE SPACED AREAS OF BONDING IN ADJACENT SERIES BEING OUT OF ALIGNMENT, ADJACENT SERIES BEING BONDED TOGETHER. 